Characters of sheffield

[asterix]

Does anybody remember a man called Jimmy McTee. I met him when working on Shepcot Lane during the shutdown fortnight when the furnaces needed rebuilding. Jimmy was the clayman who mixed the clay for the bricklayers to lay the bricks for the furnaces when they rebuilt them and I believe he lived on the Wybourn estate. It must have been about 30 years ago when I worked with him. He was a raeal Sheffield character who liked a good drink.

[Kidorry]

Can anyone remember a man who sold fruit,veg & fish from a little horse & cart around the Wicker in the 40s & 50s. He had a club foot,everyone knew him as Leggy(not very PC now).He lived about half way up East Bank Rd.

[CHAIRBOY]

Does anyone remember Grandmother Green and another Gay nicknamed Shirley?

 

Mr Green at one time was a ward nurse at the St George's Hospital at Winter Street.

 

When he and his partner were attending the wards the whole place was filled with laughter at their antics.

 

You couldn't have booked a better turn for the clubs.

 

Shirley was a young blonde who used to drink in the Blue Bell on High Street. He was always sat with the young women in there trying their lipsticks and various cosmetics on.

 

He could be very funny at times, but in small doses.

 

PS I called these two 'Gays' as they both wore makeup but not to offend anyone.

 

Is this "Shirley" who used to be a regular in the Barley Corn on Cambridge Street?

[Little Hobo]

When I was a young lad I worked at Freiderichs in the Wicker and I remember seeing a man who worked on the coal lorries and he was always black with the coal. He had his mouth open all the time looking up in the air. He wore wellingtons summer and winter. When he finished on the coal he used to walk his dog which was on a long rope. The rope was that long that the dog would be at the picture house and he would be at Freiderichs. Does anyone remember him?

 

Yes I remember him, his nickname was yawner he lived in Wragg Rd or Tummon Rd on the Wybourn,didn't know his real name he died about 1990.

[Anna K]

Does anyone remember Pond Street Nora, sometimes known as 'Nutty Nora' (my, how times change, thank goodness.)

She used to terrify me when I was a kid, with her shouting.

I never understood the sadness of it at the time. I'd like to think that sort of thing wouldn't happen nowadays and she'd be well looked after.

[hillsbro]

Norah was well-known to Sheffielders 30+ years ago. She has been mentioned on several Forum threads, and at least one of her relatives has contributed - see for example http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285

 

She was born Norah Kathleen Welbourn on 6 November 1915. She married Tom Lee in 1942 and later suffered some sort of mental breakdown. She was eventually admitted to Middlewood Hospital and was a resident there when she died in March 1986.

[sierraman]

Does anyone who used to live on the Lowedges in the 60's remember 'Basher' .

A strange man who was always under the illusion you were looking at him, and challenged you! Also a guy called Arthur who used to frequent the Lowedges in his three wheeled Reliant Van?

[soft ayperth]

Is this "Shirley" who used to be a regular in the Barley Corn on Cambridge Street?

 

There was a gay guy called Shirley in the 60s who used to go in a pub toward the bottom of the Moor. Forget the name of the pub. I seem to remember he used to serve behind the bar. If it's the one I'm thinking of he grew up on the Stradbroke Estate not far from where I lived.

[maryjane]

I remember pond street nora, she used to scare us when she shouted, I also remember subway charlie, we used to walk through the hole in the road on the way to school each morning, late 60`s early 70`s, and he would nearly always still be asleep under a drinks machine,at the snig hill entrance.

[hillsbro]

... I also remember subway charlie, we used to walk through the hole in the road on the way to school each morning, late 60`s early 70`s, and he would nearly always still be asleep under a drinks machine,at the snig hill entrance.

 

This would have been Cyril Griffin, a homeless and harmless down-and-out who at one time had been a skilled electrician at Firth Brown's. He had some sort of breakdown after his parents died and spent the rest of his life on the streets. He died, apparently of exposure, one cold night in December 1976 and was found in the BHS doorway; he was 52.